Olive Hazel Samuel

Olive Hazel Brown (yes..three colors!) was born in Worcester, MA, on February 6, 1922, to Harrison and Hazel Brown, the second of four children. She is preceded in death by brother Harrison and sister Alice, and is survived by sister Virginia Fellows of Merrimack, NH. Olive died on June 5, 2025 after 103 wonderful years.

Always a story teller, Olive recalled vividly growing up in a happy and loving family despite spending much of her childhood living through the Great Depression. Olive graduated from North High School in Worcester in 1939 and attended Worcester State Teachers College for two years. She planned to transfer to the University of California and live with older brother Harrison and his wife, Doris. That all changed after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December, 1941; Olive, at the urging of her parents, stayed in Worcester and attended secretarial classes at Becker College.

Olive met her future husband, Frank Samuel, at a YMCA dance in 1943, just weeks before Frank reported for duty in the Army Air Corps. Corresponding frequently during his deployment, first stateside and then during his time in the India/Burma Theater, the two were married on June 29, 1946.

In those days, it was customary for women in the workplace to inform their almost always male bosses of their intentions to start a family. Always an obliging rules follower, Olive informed her boss (she worked for an insurance company) of her and Frank’s intention to start their family about two years after they were married. Olive was always very proud of her family planning prowess when Nancy was born two years, nine months and one day after she and Frank were married!

Nancy was born in 1949 when the couple were still living in Worcester. In 1950, after Frank accepted a job with Raytheon, the couple bought their first home in Lexington, MA, where they lived until upgrading to a larger home, still in Lexington, in 1961. By that point, Donna (1952) and Roger (1957) had joined the family. Frank Jr. (Terry) joined the family in 1962. In 1993, Frank and Olive sold the family home and moved to a beautiful condominium in Bedford, where they lived until Frank’s health necessitated a move to assisted living in 2010. After Frank’s death in 2011, Olive moved to the Huntington Continuous Care Community in Nashua, NH, where she lived and was well cared for until her death. The family would like to thank all of the staff at The Huntington for their wonderful care of Olive for all these years as well as the caring staff and volunteers of Home Health & Hospice Care of Merrimack for their attentive end-of-life care and support.

Throughout their time in Lexington, Olive and Frank were very active and faithful members of Hancock United Church of Christ (Congregational) Church. Both Frank and Olive were very active in many leadership roles in the church over the many years they were parishioners. All four children were baptized at Hancock, and both Nancy and Donna were married there. Needless to say, the church also produced many, many enduring friendships for not only Olive and Frank, but for the entire family.

In 1968, when Terry was entering the first grade, Olive decided to take a teacher aide position with Hastings Elementary School in Lexington. She absolutely loved the job as it allowed her to sync her schedule to those of her still-at-home children and earn some money to ease the burden of raising a family of six. She held that position until Hastings closed in 1986, closely coinciding with Frank’s retirement from Raytheon.

In their retirement years, Olive and Frank had the opportunity to do a great deal of traveling, primarily with friends but also with daughter Nancy and her husband Richard, who live in Great Britain. When not traveling, Olive remained active in the church, became an avid quilter and volunteered with the Lexington Historical Society. And of course she was Nana to an ever growing number of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Surviving Olive are:

Daughter Nancy (Richard) Turnbull of London, England, along with their children Nate (Christina) of Sacramento, CA; Clare (Nick) of London, England (children Ismay and Elodie), and Lucy (Brad) of Bunny, England (children Annabelle and Lillie ).

Daughter Donna (Dana) Owens of Westford, MA, along with their children Chris of Pepperell, MA (son Christopher), Kyle (Melissa) of Pepperell, MA (daughter Leah) and Brendan of Westford, MA

Son Roger of Lenexa, KS along with children Chelsea (Joe) of Oakland, CA, Reid of Kansas City, MO, and stepson Thomas Flick (Monica) of Omaha, NE. Roger’s wife, Heather, preceded Olive in death in 2024.

Son Terry (Jane) of Lexington, KY, along with their children Elizabeth (Jesse), Kate and Emma, all of Lexington, KY.

The family invites you to a service to celebrate Olive’s beautiful 103-year life on this earth at The First Church, Nashua (NH) on July 10 at 10:00 am.

In lieu of flowers, we ask that you consider a donation in Olive’s memory to:

The Huntington Employee Appreciation, 55 Kent Ln, Nashua, NH 03062

or

The Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter, PO Box 3116, Nashua, NH 03061 or at https://nsks.org/tribute/